Petrified Forest National Park Self-Guided Audio Tour

Petrified Forest National Park offers visitors a unique way to explore its ancient, otherworldly landscape through a self-guided audio tour. Accessible via the Action Tour Guide app, the tour provides an immersive, hands-free experience that adapts to your pace. As you journey along the park’s 28+ mile route, the tour’s stories and insights automatically play based on your location, allowing you to discover key highlights like the Painted Desert and Puerco Pueblo at your own leisure. Whether you’ve got a few hours or a few days, this flexible tour promises to unveil the park’s geological wonders and the captivating history of its ancestral inhabitants. Where will the path lead you?

Key Points

• The self-guided audio tour provides an immersive exploration of Petrified Forest National Park’s ancient, petrified landscape over 2-3 hours.
• The tour is accessible through the Action Tour Guide app using a provided password, offering a flexible, hands-free experience.
• Key stops along the tour include Tiponi Point for Painted Desert views, the historic Painted Desert Inn, and Puerco Pueblo, an ancient 100-room pueblo.
• Visitors can explore the park’s diverse geological formations, such as the Tepees and Blue Mesa, at their own pace over multiple days.
• The tour offers a remarkable window into the culture and ways of life of the Puebloan people through sites like Puerco Pueblo and Newspaper Rock.

You can check availability for your dates here:

Overview of the Tour

The self-guided audio tour of Petrified Forest National Park provides visitors with an immersive exploration of an ancient world turned to stone, guiding them through the park’s captivating desert vistas, petrified trees, and abundant fossils.

Designed to cover the essentials of the park in 2-3 hours, the 28+ mile-long tour can be accessed via the Action Tour Guide app, using a provided password.

The flexible tour allows visitors to explore the park at their own pace, with audio stories automatically playing based on their location.

From the Painted Desert Visitor Center to the Rainbow Forest Museum, this comprehensive tour offers a hands-free, engaging experience to discover the wonders of Petrified Forest National Park.

Tour Description

Covering the park’s essentials in 2-3 hours, the 28+ mile-long self-guided audio tour takes visitors on a captivating journey from the Painted Desert Visitor Center at the park’s north entrance.

Travelers can download the Action Tour Guide app and use the provided password to access the tour, which will automatically play audio stories based on their location. The flexible tour allows visitors to explore at their own pace, using it over multiple days if desired.

Key stops along the way include:

• Tiponi Point for panoramic Painted Desert views
• The historic Painted Desert Inn
• Puerco Pueblo, an ancient 100-room pueblo
• Newspaper Rock and its impressive petroglyphs

Key Stops Along the Way

Along the 28+ mile self-guided audio tour, visitors can discover several captivating key stops that highlight Petrified Forest National Park‘s diverse natural and cultural wonders.

One such highlight is Tiponi Point, which offers panoramic vistas of the park’s iconic Painted Desert and its multicolored badlands.

Another must-see is the Painted Desert Inn, a National Historic Landmark with stunning Pueblo Revival architecture, vibrant murals, and breathtaking views.

Further along the route, travelers can explore the well-preserved ruins of Puerco Pueblo, a 100-room pueblo inhabited over 600 years ago, and discover the park’s remarkable Newspaper Rock, adorned with over 650 ancient petroglyphs.

These key stops provide a captivating glimpse into Petrified Forest’s rich history and natural beauty.

Tiponi Point and Painted Desert

Petrified Forest National Park’s Tiponi Point offers visitors a panoramic vista of the park’s iconic Painted Desert, showcasing its vibrant, multicolored badlands that stretch out as far as the eye can see.

From this strategic overlook, you’ll be immersed in the stunning geological layers that give the desert its signature hues, ranging from rusty reds to deep purples.

The sweeping, undulating landscape carved by wind and water over millions of years.

The stark contrast between the desert’s bare badlands and the scattered petrified trees.

The vast, open sky that seems to engulf the entire scene.

The park’s diverse array of plant and animal life adapted to this harsh, arid environment.

More Great Tours Nearby

Puerco Pueblo and Newspaper Rock

The self-guided audio tour’s next stop brings visitors to Puerco Pueblo, the site of a 100-room pueblo that was inhabited over 600 years ago. This ancient village offers a glimpse into the lives of the Puebloan people who once called this area home, including their use of a solar calendar. Nearby, Newspaper Rock showcases over 650 petroglyphs left by these same ancestral inhabitants, providing a remarkable window into their culture and ways of life.

Feature	Puerco Pueblo	Newspaper Rock
Type	Ancient Puebloan Site	Petroglyph Site
Age	600+ Years Old	Centuries Old
Significance	Glimpse into Puebloan Life	Window into Ancestral Culture
Highlights	Solar Calendar	Over 650 Petroglyphs

The Tepees and Blue Mesa

Continuing the audio tour, visitors marvel at the fascinating rock formations known as The Tepees, featuring vibrant layers of multicolored sedimentary deposits.

Nearby, the Blue Mesa showcases a breathtaking landscape of blue-hued badlands scattered with petrified wood remnants, offering a unique glimpse into the region’s ancient geological history.

The tour highlights several key features of this intriguing area:

• The Tepees’ striking, cone-shaped structures, formed by erosion of the layered rock
• The intense blue hues of the Blue Mesa badlands, caused by the presence of a rare mineral called smectite
• Abundant petrified wood fragments that litter the ground, remnants of the ancient forest that once flourished here
• The dramatic contrasts of color and texture that make this section of the park so visually captivating.

Petrified Wood Trails

Visitors can explore two trail systems that showcase Petrified Forest’s remarkable petrified wood deposits – Jasper Forest and Crystal Forest. These trails wind through areas where the ancient fossilized tree trunks have been strewn across the landscape, offering an up-close look at this unique petrified phenomenon.

Trail	Distance	Highlights
Jasper Forest	1 mile	Massive, colorful petrified logs
Crystal Forest	0.5 mile	Glistening petrified wood with quartz crystals

The trails provide an opportunity to marvel at the sheer size and vivid colors of the petrified wood, a testament to the park’s ancient past. Visitors can touch, photograph, and appreciate the beauty of these remarkable natural wonders.

Inclusions and Important Information

This self-guided audio tour includes the easy-to-use Action Tour Guide app, engaging storytelling from a proven narrator, a comprehensive route with key stops, offline maps, and hands-free audio for a flexible, self-paced experience.

It’s important to note that this isn’t an entrance ticket to Petrified Forest National Park – you’ll need to download the app and use the provided password before arriving.

To get the most out of the tour, connect it to your car speakers and use one tour per vehicle.

The tour can be enjoyed multiple times over the year, allowing you to explore the park at your own pace.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I Use the Tour on Any Mobile Device?

You can use the tour on any mobile device. The self-guided audio tour is accessed through an app, which you can download and use on your smartphone or tablet. The app provides the flexibility to explore at your own pace.

Is the Tour Compatible With Both Ios and Android?

The tour is compatible with both iOS and Android devices. Users can simply download the Action Tour Guide app and access the tour using the provided password, regardless of their mobile operating system.

How Much Data Is Required to Stream the Audio?

The tour utilizes offline audio files, so no data is needed to stream the content. The app downloads the necessary audio ahead of time, allowing users to enjoy the self-guided experience without consuming mobile data.

Can Multiple People Listen to the Tour Simultaneously?

The tour can be enjoyed by multiple people simultaneously. The app allows you to connect to your car’s speakers, so everyone in the vehicle can listen to the engaging audio content together.

What Happens if I Get Disconnected During the Tour?

If you get disconnected during the tour, the audio playback will pause. Simply reconnect to the app, and it will automatically resume from where you left off, allowing you to continue your self-guided experience seamlessly.

Recap

The Petrified Forest National Park’s self-guided audio tour offers an immersive experience to explore the park’s ancient landscapes and history at one’s own pace.

With the flexible, hands-free format, visitors can discover the geological wonders and ancestral sites, including the Painted Desert, Puerco Pueblo, and Petrified Wood Trails, over multiple days.

It’s an engaging way to uncover the park’s captivating story and natural beauty.

You can check availability for your dates here: